How Bet365's Denise Coates Hit her Own Jackpot

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ByRebecca Marston
Business reporter, BBC News

Denise Coates, the billionaire boss of Bet365, added another ₤ 323m to her wealth this promotion code week after the company her household founded racked up another year of big revenues.

She's been called the UK's most successful lady, with a fortune that Forbes publication puts in the area of ₤ 9.3 bn.

Most noticeably, she has actually made that mostly herself.

Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's largest economic sector company, with more than 4,600 staff. It uses its millions of worldwide clients sports wagering, poker, casino, video games and bingo. The firm had a ₤ 3bn turnover in the year to the end of March and a revenue before tax of ₤ 791m.

Ms Coates' bro John is joint chief executive and her daddy Peter is the company's chairman, but Denise Coates owns half the business and there's no doubt the success is mainly hers.

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

Bet365 employer sees pay rise to ₤ 265m

Serious bettors tend to have a "system", a supposedly foolproof method that will continue bringing rewards. So what's her "system"?

Return to the 1990s and there aren't many who would have bet on the little family-run chain of regional wagering shops growing to such a size.

A lot is down to her mathematical skill, which was exceptional from an early age. David Owen taught her at secondary school in the 1980s.

"She got whatever right, only asked relevant concerns and was angelically acted. She was clearly off the scale. If we were talking Mensa, she 'd be in the yohaig code leading 1%," he told the BBC.

'More girls'

She attained a top-notch degree in econometrics and trained as an accounting professional within the family firm, building further on the knowledge of the small chain that she chose up while working part-time during high school.

As well as a very keen eye for figures - the heart of any effective bookmaker - she is also a moderniser.

Among her associates, Debbie Tatton, informed the BBC: "When Denise came, she wanted a more detailed relationship between the personnel and the consumers. We became a lot more expert, a lot more customer-focused. A great deal of more youthful individuals began being available in, in addition to a lot more girls."

In 2000, Ms Coates upped the stakes and encouraged the household to mortgage the service to permit them to establish new software.

Her brother says she ended up being fixated on the potential for online gambling and became a pioneer in that company.

Establishing headquarters in a momentary building in a parking lot, Ms Coates called it the ultimate gamble, purchasing the domain name Bet365.com so that she might drive the service because direction.

'Innate knowledge'

"She's highly intelligent and really identified," says Warwick Bartlett, from worldwide betting and gaming specialists GBGC.

"She is also efficient in looking at the big photo. Betfair was the innovator in in-play betting, but she was basically the very first to harness mobile innovation, identifying that gamblers anywhere would have the ability to bet on sporting occasions."

A big 70% of income now comes through banking on tablets and phones.

She is assisted, Mr Bartlett says, by the reality that she, uniquely, really knows the market. "The Coates family are third-generation bookmakers. They have discovered business from parents and grandparents.

"She has an inherent understanding of what the bettor is looking for. A lot of the business nowadays have managers that might have come from [other sectors] They are expert supervisors who attempt to apply their understanding gained from offering beans or margarines."

Ad debate

Mr Bartlett says close understanding of another service has actually assisted with the in-play football earnings: Bet365 owns local club Stoke City.

"Owning a football club offered them an insight into the way the Premier League worked. Stoke City, not so successful itself, has played teams that truly are," he says.

"On top of the contact with the specialists they benefit from protection through the sponsorship of the team. Bet365 has fantastic exposure each time Stoke are featured."

Ms Coates' daddy is chairman of Stoke and has a greater public profile than she does.

But the name best related to Bet365 is, naturally, Ray Winstone, whose gravelly tones utilized to urge punters to "bet in play - NOW!" before the advertisements were pulled.

Again, Warwick Bartlett states, Ms Coates got it right. "Using Ray validates my point about 365, they understand their clients. He's a middle-aged guy and a little a geezer.

"Cleverly, Bet365 use similar types to interest their clients in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he encounters in the advert as a very cool guy."

Bet365 continues to keep one action ahead. It's moving into the yohaig code US as the market there opens up.

But while Denise Coates' organization brain believes international, she herself is likely to stay rooted in Stoke.